New York City Metblogs » nyc_velvet

Lost My View

nyc_velvet — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:00:52 +0000

During the winter months I have a lovely view out my window of the Manhattan skyline through a bare tree. But as it’s leaves come in, it slowly filters out until I can only see green. Luckily I can still see sunsets and the Statue of Liberty (at least until they start putting up some tall buildings in Gowanus). It’s a bit upsetting, but I know it will come back in the fall and until then, there’s always the roof!

Anyone else with a winter-only view out there?

Oooooh Barracuda

nyc_velvet — Tue, 08 May 2007 07:03:39 +0000

Spotted in Clinton Hill…a Plymouth Barracuda.. I believe this is a ‘64. Besides being an all time classic muscle car, the barracuda is also a cool looking and vicious fish, the recently announced super thin phone from Nokia, as well as a 1977 classic rock anthem by Heart that you will now have in your head for the rest of the day…you’re gonna burn, burn, burn to the wick…..ooooooh barracuda.

Manhattan Skyline

nyc_velvet — Tue, 01 May 2007 05:31:22 +0000

Here’s a shot of the midtown skyline as seen from the 27th floor of a hardhat tour of the Northside Piers project in Williamsburg. You can see the Bank of America building rising right in the middle of the shot with the 2 cranes atop it. Year by year the skyline slowly changes and grows more dense as newer buildings crowd the old ones, changing from a group of distinct buildings to an amorphous blob of skyscrapers. Through it all, the old ladies of the scene, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings stand tall and stand out and there’s something very comforting in that- a solid building of stone and strength and beauty- an energy of permanence that the modern glass towers just don’t project.

Tree v. Sign

nyc_velvet — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 03:51:22 +0000

The eternal struggle of man versus nature has clearly come to a head here in Park Slope outside the famed PS 321 school. Will the sign break free? Will the tree overtake the sign completely? Who will reign supreme?

Cloud Over Atlantic Yards

nyc_velvet — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:08:46 +0000

A single cloud and a watertower over the sight of the Atlantic Yards project, currently an MTA railyard, nicely conforming to the photography composition rule of thirds.

Tourists on Wall Street

nyc_velvet — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:47:35 +0000

Is it officially tourist season yet? I was in the Financial District this morning, unsuccessfully attempting a leveraged buyout of Microsoft (daaammmn you Gates), and I noticed an interesting dichotomy between the heavily touristed corner of Wall and Broad Streets and the more businessperson/bike messenger/delivery guy populated area over on William St. one block down. Do downtown office workers just avoid this area if possible?

Brooklyn Navy Yard Water Tower

nyc_velvet — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:25:16 +0000

Technically this is across the street from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and not actually in the facility but close enough. The Navy Yard was founded in 1801 by the US Navy for shipbuilding and such famous ships as the Monitor, the Maine, and Robert Fulton’s steamboat Fulton were built here. The 300 acre facility was decommissioned in 1966 and is now home to a variety of commercial and industrial businesses including Steiner Studios, the 2nd largest film studio in New York City (after Silvercup). The Producers and Spiderman 3 were shot at Steiner.

Big Damn Prints at Pratt

nyc_velvet — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:26:37 +0000

Today was the third annual “Big Damn Prints” event at the Pratt Institute. The event allowed students to let off a little steam as the weather turns nicer. Pratt students and faculty created giant 4 by 8 foot woodblock prints on bedsheets. Basically, they carve the art into a big piece of wood, ink it up, and press a sheet on top of it. In order to facilitate such a large print, they used a STEAMROLLER!!!!!!!!!! to transfer the ink from the carved wood to the sheets. Crazy!
More pics after the jump..

The inked woodcut is below the sheet and the image will actually be on the underside of the sheet as it lies in the photo:
The final results were pretty spectacular:

It was a really cool event for both artists and spectators alike. More pics and a video are over here at my site if you want.

The Supermarket Situation

nyc_velvet — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:13:14 +0000

The supermarket situation here is pretty dire.

Are we currently at the point where the supermarkets are so poorly run that the opening of a Whole Foods is major news?

Are we really living in a city where proximity to a “good” supermarket is a huge selling point for real estate?

Where even the rumor of a new supermarket opening can increase interest in a property?

Why are our supermarkets such an unpleasant shopping experience that Freshdirect, where you order your goods online, can come in and almost instantaneously dominate the market in many neighborhoods?

Are our supermarkets so bad that putting blind trust in a online company to pick out your produce virtually guarantees doing better than picking them out by hand yourself?

Why are some neighborhoods completely lacking any supermarket at all?

Are our supermarkets so bad that you will take the subway past probably 15 other supermarkets just to go to Whole Foods/Fairway/whatever?

Did you really just drive 20 minutes our of your way, past the projects in Red Hook/Harlem just for a supermarket?

How was that 30 minute subway ride to go to the greenmarket in Union Square?

Why are our supermarkets almost universally expensive, yet many restaurants are still cheap?

Why haven’t our supermarkets gotten better in any way since the increased competition in the market recently?

It’s Snowing! It’s April!

nyc_velvet — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:29:38 +0000

We’re already a few days into April and look out your window- it’s snowing! The snow is not really sticking and is just barely coming down but it’s definitely out there. I even had to retrieve my winter coat from the closet- thought I would be done with it for the year. This should (hopefully) be our last snowfall of the season. Of course this means I can post one my snowfall pictures and it doesn’t seem totally out of date- this is from just a few short weeks ago: